It seemed like such a simple and well managed plan. So why has it become contentious?
The Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) allows Canadian employers to hire foreign nationals to fill temporary labour shortages when qualified Canadians are unavailable. But now, there are changes and it is suddenly complicated and controversial, especially in rural areas of Calgary and Edmonton.
Employers must typically get a Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA) to prove a need for foreign workers and demonstrate that hiring a foreign worker will have a positive or neutral impact on the Canadian labour market.
It’s also a matter of worker protection, and TFWP is designed to ensure foreign workers have the same rights as Canadian workers.
Temporary foreign workers are critical to Alberta businesses, particularly in food service, agriculture, hospitality, retail, waste management and remediation services.
The experts and the critics agree. It fills filling acute labour shortages that local recruitment cannot manage. The food service and agricultural sectors are heavily reliant on TFWs, particularly for cooks and food service attendants.
So, why did the TFWP rules change, get stricter and more complicated, and threaten some Alberta small businesses?
In 2024 and 2025, the federal government tightened TFW rules, reducing the cap on low-wage workers in some sectors to 10 per cent, and no longer accepted low-wage TFWP applications in areas with six per cent or higher unemployment rate.
It triggered much backlash, from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) – Canada’s largest association of small- and medium-sized businesses with 103,000 members across every industry and region – sector associations like Restaurants Canada, Chambers of Commerce and small businesses and small business owners.
The gist of the feedback was about federal TFWP policies limiting low-wage streams to 10 per cent of staff and reducing permits to one year threatened to force shutdowns or reduced hours for many small firms.
There were some revisions and changes made.
This March, in response to the backlash, Ottawa announced some welcomed changes to the changes. On April 1, 2026, the federal government adjusted the TFWP to support rural employers by increasing the low-wage workforce cap from 10 per cent to 15 per cent until March 31, 2027.
It is a measure aimed to address labor shortages outside major cities, and requires provinces to opt-in, while broader 2026 policies include stricter, generally lower, overall caps.
“Temporary foreign workers are vital for Canada’s SMEs,” explains Christina Santini, CFIB’s director of national affairs. “There have been many myths and misconceptions around temporary foreign workers but there are many legitimate reasons why small businesses use the TFW program to fill persistent labour market gaps.
“Small and medium size businesses rely on the TFWP for several reasons. Labour shortages still persist in certain sectors and regions. For many employers, particularly those requiring technical skills or manual labour, or those in rural and remote communities, it is sometimes the only choice to meet staffing needs, serve customers and remain open.”
“Many employers simply cannot find enough workers locally,” she says. “This is especially true in rural, remote, resource and resort communities. The labour pool just isn’t there, regardless of wages. Additionally, with fewer youth concentrated in rural areas, businesses face diminished access to local Canadian labour pools, making TFWs essential to keeping operations running.”
CFIB stats show that rural businesses who have relied on the TFWP were more likely than their urban counterparts to admit that, if it weren’t for TFWs, they would not be able to employ local Canadians.
The revised changes implemented this March are temporary but welcomed news, especially for small businesses like restaurants in rural areas of Calgary and Edmonton. It will ease severe labour shortages and are a positive step for employers, especially in rural and tourism-dependent regions.
Hospitality and the restaurant sector critically rely on TFWs. The restaurant and foodservice sector are Canada’s fourth largest employer, with nearly 1.2 million workers, including more than 500,000 youth representing 40 per cent of its workforce.
According to Restaurants Canada, the March announcement is an encouraging first step towards building a more strategic and predictable workforce that supports, instead of restricting small businesses.
The national organization called for a targeted approach to immigration that includes taking into account the needs of rural, remote and tourism areas, where the pool of qualified or available workers can be insufficient or where needs may vary by time of year.
“Access to a reliable and predictable source of labour is essential to the economic and social fabric of these communities,” says Restaurants Canada president and CEO Kelly Higginson.” TFWs account for just three per cent of our workforce but helps fill critical gaps that allow restaurants to continue operating and provide jobs.”
In Alberta’s hospitality sector, Lyndon Decore is president of Osprey Resorts, a family business operating two small hotels in the National Parks – Castle Mountain Chalets in Banff and Jasper House Bungalows in Jasper.
“Foreign workers have been a stabling force in our industry for more than 30 years. They are as important as any other worker required to meet business operations,” he explains. “From welcoming guests at the front desk, in our retail store to turning over rooms in housekeeping and working in facilities maintenance.”
In response to the frequent accusation that FTWs take jobs from Canadians, Decore suggests a misunderstanding about foreign workers. “Canadians make up an alarmingly small number of applicants in our search for employees, less than 20 per cent of our current applicants, while foreigners with valid work permits account for the rest.
“While we try to hire as many Canadians as we can, many Canadian applicants view work in our business as a short-term or seasonal pursuit, and do not always factor competitively to foreign applicants looking for career advancement in the hospitality industry.”
According to a recent employment report, food service and agricultural sectors are heavily reliant on TFWP, and, particularly in Alberta, with a 1,251 per cent surge in TFW approvals.
Santini points out that, despite some controversies about the impact of TFWP, “Across sectors like construction, manufacturing and hospitality, employers face job vacancies that go unfilled despite active recruitment efforts within Canada.
“Additionally, the share of youth working in many of the sectors where TFWs are employed remains extremely low. For example, only 3.6 per cent of unemployed Canadians aged 15 to 24 are concentrated in manufacturing, while 8.6 per cent of TFWs are concentrated in that sector.”
Lyndon Decore underscores the importance of TFWP. “As a small business, we have a limited capacity to retain a team of workers that only wish to be with us for four to eight months, or half an operating season. Foreign workers more often commit to one, two- or three-year contracts, which provides us with stability and the ability to plan for rehiring and training.”